‘This is a sustainable National League South club' – Gosport Borough chairman Iain McInnes

And the former Pompey chief insists Shaun Gale's squad should be pushing for a play-off finish in the Southern League Premier South in the forthcoming campaign.

McInnes, 70, is now preparing to enter his fourth full season after arriving at Privett Park in December 2017.

He is adamant, finally, the club is starting to take shape off the field with some solid foundations in place.

Last summer's launch of the centre of excellence was something McInnes had long been keen to push through, while the ‘Feed a Family in Need’ initiative - set up by the club on the back of the pandemic - has ensured hundreds of families in the town have remained stocked up on essentials during the crisis.

But now it's on the field where McInnes is keen for the success to start coming.

Boro enjoyed a three-season stay in the sixth tier after three promotions in seven seasons to first reach that level in 2013/14.

But over time Gosport became beset by financial problems and eventually dropped out of the National League South at the end of 2016/17.

However, now the club are in a much more stable position, McInnes sees no reason why they shouldn't be aiming for a return.

The Boro chairman said: ‘There’s no point trying to deny history, if you look historically at where the club has been at its peak, I think it’s a sustainable National League South club.

‘I don’t have any desire to go chasing after National League status because it seems to me that’s just an operation which is trying desperately hard to become involved with the league (EFL), which is a structure which doesn’t work for most of the clubs who are in it anyway, so I don’t see that making any sense.

‘I think in another three years, which will probably be about the max for me - including this season - we’ve got to be good enough and competitive enough to be in the play-offs and who knows what happens from there.

‘The under-18s and under-23s, who did really well last year, will go from strength to strength.

‘I’m optimistic, I’m excited and I’m still ambitious enough - I’m a bit tired, but it’s all good.

‘The truth of the matter is if you haven’t got enthusiasm, haven’t got passion, you’re fortunate enough to have a little bit of energy, it’s what keeps you alive, isn’t it?'

Pre-season has marked a welcome return of competitive football to Privett Park.

Gosport had encountered a hugely frustrating period of eight months without any action after their previous season was ended in October.

McInnes has just been pleased to see people from the community able to come and watch their club again - despite the constraints he and Gosport have faced ensuring supporters can safely return.

He added: ‘It’s always busy at a club like this; when I was at Pompey I found the close season was probably busier than the football season, by that time most of the things are done.

'Here, we’ve had to spend nine or 10 months without any football at all, apart from the occasional youth team match, and yet we’ve had to keep the club running with salaries and overheads, so it’s been very challenging.

‘Of course, I’m delighted with the fact we entered into this Feed a Family Project that we started and I think recently we clocked our 8,000th food parcel into the community.

‘That kind of kept the club alive, not financially, but from an operational point of view because it became quite a big thing for the community and the football club.

‘It’s kind of the breakthrough we needed as a club to get into the community and make people realise this is a community club - as I think all clubs at this level should be.

‘Now the season has come along and you’ve got the job of making the ground up for it, we’ve got all the health and safety that professional clubs have got, we’ve got all the demands with the ground from an upkeep point of view, so that’s always a busy time.

‘Of course, now we’ve started into some friendlies, it’s nice to be back playing football.'

This article originally appeared in our Sports Mail 2021/22 preview special on July31.